Was I crying?

I wiped my eyes with my fingers, and they came away wet.

I stared blankly at my palm and lifted my head.

The sounds of the battlefield filtered in through the surrounding partition walls.

We had returned inside the barrier, where the seniors fought the territory reclamation war.

"I'm sorry."

I muttered as I rubbed away the tears with my forearm.

"Why did you retreat?"

"Because I planted a tracker on Kyle."

Ye-hyeon answered. He stood there like a ghost as he received reports over the communicator.

Even in my dazed state, I felt instinctively surprised. It was exactly like Lee Seung-hyun's ability to completely erase his presence.

Ye-hyeon took his hand off the communicator.

"It was worth going out there to face him directly. And our primary goal right now is the territory reclamation."

His husky voice held no personal emotions.

"Taking out the enemy's leader is secondary. While the bombardment continues, we'll regroup our forces, then head back out to the designated location."

Ah.

So that was it—they tried to draw the enemy away from the most vulnerable point in our defenses.

I nodded as I looked at the pale face of my superior.

Then his next words made my eyes widen.

"Hilde, you're out."

"Yes?"

I asked dumbly.

"Wasn't I the bait?"

"Get treated first."

It doesn't hurt.

As I thought that and scanned my body, I belatedly remembered the gunshot wound on my arm. It was from that grenade earlier. There seemed to be some minor scratches besides that, but they didn't look serious.

I could just tie on a tourniquet and go.

Perhaps he read my thoughts, because Ricardo roughly grabbed my uninjured arm.

At the same time, Ami came running over.

"Hilde."

She tightly hugged my chest and muttered.

Her face was buried in my body.

"I'm sorry."

"Yes?"

For what?

"It must have been so hard. I'm sorry. Sorry."

Kal used the tourniquet to tightly bind my arm.

In the meantime, I looked down at the person hugging me. All I could see was the round top of her head. It was black and round.

If I hadn't gone to stop Ray's rampage, Ami wouldn't have fallen into a coma.

I couldn't imagine what the young Ye-hyeon and Yoon must have felt when they heard the news.

I just stared at the top of her head and smiled.

"You could resent me a little, Ami."

The gazes of the people inside the partition walls poured over us.

Ami widened her eyes and lifted her head.

"Huh?"

"I told you I was friends with a Tier 10. You said because of him, you slept for two years."

If we hadn't come here, she wouldn't have gone through that.

As my senior crushed me in her embrace, I suddenly realized the reality. It hit me even harder because I remembered that now my kin weren't the victims. Of course, I didn't regret setting foot on Earth. No matter what happened, I couldn't regret that.

But the fact that I hadn't prevented the war weighed heavily on me.

The kid who wore gym clothes under her school uniform skirt and cheerfully played badminton.

When the First War broke out, Ami had been in high school.

"Why would I resent you for that?"

Ami's puzzled voice brought me back to my senses.

"Shouldn't I be grateful to you instead?"

"But in the end, war broke out. Because of my kin."

"But you stayed on our side the whole time."

She loosened her arms and stepped back a bit, still looking up at me.

Her puzzled expression quickly turned to anger.

"In the end, you took our side, didn't you?"

"In the end, I couldn't stop the war. If I had been able to stop it, none of this would have happened."

"How could you stop a war, Hilde?"

"Because I was the leader."

Sophia sharply inhaled.

I felt Kal's hands, which had been checking my arm, suddenly stop. Ricardo, who had been about to say something, closed his mouth.

The three seniors froze in shock.

Silence descended on the space made of partition walls. The war outside was noisy, but this area became eerily quiet.

Even Ye-hyeon, who was receiving reports on the communicator, didn't move.

Only Ami furrowed her brows sharply.

"Butt?"

"Yes?"

"You were the knight commander, Hilde. Not the king."

"Uh... yeah. Pretty much."

What was she getting at?

"You've never done politics before, right?"

"Uh, before coming to Earth, no. On Earth, I did meet politicians often, but..."

"A natural-born politician couldn't stop a war either!"

Ami laid out some strange logic.

"How could you alone stop a war, Hilde!"

"What? Ah, well, on Earth, I was leading them, so if I, as the leader, had handled it properly..."

"You took our side to handle it properly, and you're still standing here now!"

Ami shouted as if she might throw a punch any second.

"Don't feel that weird guilt!"

The small senior waved her hands around wildly.

Then she suddenly rushed at me. Her arms wrapped around me tightly. The pressure was stronger than before, and I coughed a couple of times.

That actually hurt a bit.

"If it was making you suffer that much, you should have said something."

Ami mumbled with her face buried.

"So that's why you kept crying. I could never do what you did..."

What a warm person.

I thought as I watched the person hugging me and sniffling.

The person whom Ray had driven to the brink of life and death.

In that moment, a memory resurfaced. It was what I had thought when I headed to the battlefield in the past. The resolve I made when I handed my sword to Jae-yeon to end the war and set out to kill Kyle.

The resolve I made while looking at the bodies of the innocent, kind scientists I couldn't protect.

I really should love humans.

As much as I hated them for it. If trampling humans could save as many of my kin as possible, I would have slaughtered them without hesitation.

But in the end, I did the opposite.

Since I made that choice, I really should love humans.

I faintly smiled and stroked Ami's head.

"I'm sorry. Now that you've stopped the bleeding, I can go back out."

"No. Get treated by Samuel first, then join when you get the OK. There's still a long way to go, so don't rush."

Ye-hyeon commanded coldly.

I looked at my top superior.

"I'm sorry for asking twice, but if I don't play the bait role, we won't be able to lure Kyle..."

"Ah, this guy keeps... You want to come to your senses only after getting knocked out~?"

"If you become desperate enough as bait, they'll carry out the operation even if it means dragging your unconscious body along."

Ye-hyeon said from beside the irritated Ricardo.

"I'm telling you to rest while you can. Don't be stubborn and go get treated."

That was a relief.

I could feel that Ye-hyeon properly separated work from personal matters. If necessary, he'd use me as a card without hesitation.

That put me a bit at ease.

Since I wasn't needed for the operation right now, I should follow orders and get treated.

As I nodded, someone entered the partition walls.

"Commander."

It was Yoon.

"Tier 10 is attacking Breath Device No. 14."

"Number One?"

"A different group."

My nerves stood on end.

Kyle had split into teams.

The ones tasked with destroying the breath devices must have set out later than Kyle. That way, I wouldn't catch them while focused on him.

In other words, Kyle had become the bait to draw my and the humans' attention. Just like I was the bait to draw in my kin.

I sharpened my senses to identify who was attacking.

At the same time, I looked at the commander.

"Commander."

"Yoon, take Hilde to the medical tent. We'll handle the Tier 10 at the device."

"Yes."

"Rest well in the tent, Hilde!"

Ami must have read my mind, because she let go of me and shouted.

"Don't even think about going back to the battlefield before getting properly treated!"

"See you later."

"Listen well~."

Kal said in his raspy voice, and Ricardo grinned and waved.

They all strongly expressed that they wouldn't let me go with them.

No.

I got that I was a burden because I was injured, but at least I should confirm who of my kin came and report it...

As I opened my mouth to convey my intent, Ami's eyes widened in surprise.

She sprang back, looking at something behind me.

"Oppa!"

Her senior, palms open, came rushing.

"Wait a minute!"

What.

Why all of a sudden.

*

?

I opened my eyes to see the tent ceiling.

"You're awake?"

Wow.

It was my mentor's voice.

There was no mistaking it. This cold, emotionless voice couldn't belong to two people.

I lay on a bed next to my mentor.

This was insane....

I was so flabbergasted that I stared at the ceiling, speechless for a while.

Then I rasped out.

"Did you knock me out and drag me here?"

"Yeah."

Yoon peered at some incomprehensible machine's screen. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

As expected, he didn't even glance at me.

"You looked like you wouldn't listen to reason."

"Did you even intend to try reasoning with me?"

"Who knows."

The man answered emotionlessly and turned his head.

"If you hadn't been crying, maybe I would have."

Cold black eyes.

A Black Badger in full combat gear checked the core's status. He didn't seem to have been out on the battlefield yet. Not a speck of dust marred his combat uniform, which seemed to absorb all light.

Did he stay in the rear because he had to monitor the core device?

With that small question in mind, I shot him a sullen glare.

"Don't lie."

"Looks like your intelligence hasn't dropped completely."

"I've been treated, so I'll head back now."

Grumbling, I pushed off the bed with my good arm.

"Thanks for dragging me to the tent."

Whoosh!

Something flew at my face.

I freaked out and blocked it with my forearm.

I felt a sharp pain as I swatted the object away.

After knocking aside the silver object, I yelled at my smirking mentor.

"What the hell!"

"You're faster."

Yoon grinned wickedly.

"You're more useful now. Once the transfusion's done, I can send you back out."

"I'll just go now. Staying here might make my condition worse."

"Don't be impatient. You'll be going out beyond the barrier with me soon anyway."

What?

I blinked at the unexpected words, and Yoon's cold smile deepened.

The man's thick-knuckled hand tapped the bed rail: tap, tap.

"Bombardments cost money. As soon as they end, there's an order to go audience with the king. Ye-hyeon will come in."

"Ah."

"I'll go in your place."

"Understood."

"The reclamation battle is far from over. Rest quietly and prepare for the next turn."

I nodded obediently at the barrage of words.

The explanation continued dryly.

"If we can catch the king out there, we will. If not, retreat via portal. Then aim for the next turn again. Repeat. Explanation over. No questions?"

My mentor had a talent for making everything so concise.

I nodded again. Though I hated to admit it, I was impressed by the strange sense of security this man created.

As soon as he confirmed my reaction, my senior returned to his work.

I rubbed my dry eyes and then sensed the presence of my kin approaching.

Just sensing them made them feel so dear.